All I Want for Christmas Is Dinosaur Dung

Scientific American's educational gift guide for 2012

Nov 13, 2012

Sam Kaplan

Scientific American combed through a wealth of educational toys and kids' books to come up with picks for the bug lover, the budding engineer, the mathematician, the geologist and even a future fashion designer

This beautifully designed set of foam interlocking shapes lets you build 3-D geometric sculptures. A pamphlet explains regular polygons and Platonic, Johnson and Archimedean solids. But kids will have fun just experimenting.

Designed by M.I.T. Media Lab alum Ayah Bdeir, littleBits are tiny circuit boards that snap together with magnets. The kit comes with a battery pack, LED lights, a pressure sensor, a dimmer and other components.

This build-it-yourself model also comes with gypsum molds for making dinosaur teeth and other fossils. An accompanying booklet details each bone and explains what paleontologists have yet to learn about Tyrannosaurus.

If you've ever wanted to make your own e-textiles, this beginner's kit, with conductive thread, five LED lights and an on/off switch, may help you land a future spot on Project Runway. Use the enclosed pattern or make your own.

This beautifully illustrated book is packed with information about every rock imaginable: asteroids, geodes, rocks that crocodiles swallow to help them deep dive, and even the marble used to carve the statue of David.

10. INFINITY AND MEby Kate Hosford. Carolrhoda Books, 2012 ($16.95)

A girl wonders about infinity and finds various imaginative ways to understand it, including the number of times one can cut a noodle in half and a never ending racetrack shaped like the infinity symbol itself.

11. THE BEETLE BOOKby Steve Jenkins. Houghton Mifflin, 2012 ($16.99)

An introduction to the fascinating world of beetles in all their colorful variety, including anatomy, reproduction, feeding habits, and ways they evade predators.